FA Cup – Round 3 Draw Reaction

The FA Cup third round draw took place on Monday night, as Premier League and Championship sides entered the competition. We took a look at the social media story to see what fans were saying about the draw and what their initial reactions were.

Overall, fans were 16% positive about the draw, with only 6% negativity (78% neutral) being registered, whilst 53% of users identified as male and 8% identified as female. Liverpool, Anfield and #LFC were three of the most used phrases after the Reds drew local rivals Everton. The derby atmosphere will be heightened as the sides meet twice in a short space of time over the festive period, leading some Everton fans to want to get their pessimism out of the way early.

First they’re going to ruin Christmas again and then they’re gonna ruin 2018 and it won’t have even been a week

Of all the Premier League teams, Liverpool fans were the most well represented group within our tribes denominations. 606 users identified themselves as Reds, with 176 Everton fans contributing their opinions too. Manchester United (311 users) and Arsenal (276 users) were second and third respectively, demonstrating how many fans those two sides have on social media, given their less than exciting draws.

The most used terms suggest that fans were reasonably excited by the United clash with Derby County and Arsenal’s game against Nottingham Forest. Whilst both were mentioned, it was clear that the Liverpool and Everton clash dominated the headlines, with Forest and Derby featuring along with Crystal Palace and Norwich City only in dispatches.

Happiness was the most expressed emotion, with 63.4% of emotion bearing tweets sharing their happiness at the draw, with a further 14.1% loving it. Anger only made up 16.2% of all tweets, suggesting most fans were satisfied with the results of the draw at the very least.

The world map demonstrates the appeal of the FA Cup to the worldwide audience, with users in countries around the world tuning in to the draw to see who their favourite Premier League side would be drawn against. Managers might be dropping their star players for the world’s oldest cup competition, but social media conversation demonstrates that fans the world over have kept their love of the FA Cup alive.

The FA Cup will be on BBC and BT Sport this season. To see the full results of the draw, click here.

To find out more about how our social media analysis can generate cool content for your website or broadcast, contact Ali at alistair@blurrt.co.uk